


Another Side of You

by AlltheFluff



Category: Free!
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 07:23:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6070321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlltheFluff/pseuds/AlltheFluff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Nagisa finds out Rei likes to carry him to bed after he's fallen asleep on the couch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Side of You

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this practically wrote itself in my head when I was practicing Kanji and I really needed to put it down on paper SO YEAH HERE'S SOME MOAR FLUFF FOR ALL YOU LOVELIES~

For the third time that week, Nagisa woke up, fully clothed, beyond confused and next to Rei while he was absolutely positive he had fallen asleep on the couch the night before.

It was just _weird._ Especially since Rei hadn’t mentioned anything to him about it, either, so maybe he was imagining things and it was all in his foggy head. It did make a little bit of sense since he had been so stressed about his grades and job lately that he had also imagined an orange flying across the room the other day.

“ _Gah_!” he had yelped and jumped ten feet into the air. “Rei-chan, you’re smart, so please explain why an orange just flew out the window!”

And, of course, Rei being Rei, sighed and told him he was tiring himself out and that there was no such thing as flying oranges. Much to Nagisa’s relief, he was right and saw the orange back in its original spot after blinking a few times. Then, he looked back at his notes and shoved them aside to take a small nap.

Since he was still quite new to studying so extensively, his brain didn’t have the stamina to study for at least a week straight, _and_ work at the local bar every other day. It wasn’t like he had a choice, though, since both him and Rei needed the money to pay for college and, eh, maybe it was a good distraction as well. Especially when Rei visited him and sat across the bar, giving him encouraging smiles and keeping him company.

Still, it didn’t explain why he was lying in bed right now. He was supposed to be on the couch, surrounded by his messy notes and books.

Nagisa started digging, but couldn’t remember going upstairs and climbing into bed. He was pretty sure he’d remember it, since Rei always did that cute thing where he’d hug Nagisa close and whisper, “Goodnight, Nagisa-kun,” with that adorable sleepy voice of his and then caress his cheek until he fell asleep. It was practically his favorite part of the day (next to waking up next to him of course) and he seriously couldn’t remember it.

That, or it didn’t happen. Or maybe he was a sleepwalker. No, Rei would have found out already and informed him about it.

“Hmmm,” Nagisa hummed to himself and pursed his lips in thought. The only thing he could think of was the fact that this also happened back when he was a child. He’d fall asleep somewhere in the living room and would wake up in bed, even though he was sure he hadn’t gone upstairs. Obviously one of his parents, or maybe even one of his sisters, had carried him to his room back then, but would Rei…?

Then, he felt something stirring next to him and a hand sneaking under his shirt.

“Are you alright, Nagisa-kun?” Rei mumbled, obviously barely awake.

“Yup.”

“It’s still early. Go back to sleep…” The words were slurred and Nagisa smiled, looking down at Rei, who’d closed his eyes and was very close to falling asleep again. He was absently stroking Nagisa’s stomach, something that always turned Nagisa’s brain into mush.

Except this time because he was still one-hundred percent convinced that he didn’t make it to the bedroom himself last night and was determined to find out how he got there.

Coming up with a quick plan, Nagisa slid back under the covers and nuzzled Rei’s neck affectionately, hearing Rei chuckle against his pillow. The hand under his shirt wrapped itself around his waist to pull him closer and Nagisa obediently followed, hoping for a good snuggle session before they went back to sleep.

* * *

Around six, Nagisa opened the front door to their apartment and clumsily stumbled into the hall. Today was his turn to do the grocery shopping so his hands were full and he had to hold the key with his teeth and push the door open with his shoulder.

So much for coordinating, but it worked. Unlike him, Rei was always very smooth and knew how to divide the weight over the bags and all that jazz, but Nagisa couldn’t get himself to care about any of that, so he stubbornly kept doing his own thing. It was a good thing that he had to keep himself busy anyway, since he’d have some time to kill before he’d put his plan into action.

Today was Tuesday, so Rei’s shift ended at nine, which meant he would be home about half an hour after that. So, around nine, he had to start preparing everything. He would go through his usual routine, meaning he’d create his own little study corner on the couch, lie on his stomach and start reviewing, except without falling asleep this time. Or at least, he'd try not to.

For the first time in his life, Nagisa cursed himself for having the ability to fall asleep so easily.

While he was putting everything away and preparing dinner, Nagisa kept glancing at the clock above the fridge and pouted every time. It was pure agony to wait for the right moment, especially since he was so curious to find out about the truth. It was weird for time to go by so slowly because he was practically the king of killing time: watching his favorite animes over and over again, video-gaming for five hours straight, checking all of his social media until his battery was on the verge of dying, flicking through channels, trying to balance utensils on his small nose, texting his friends until they answered, hell, even _cleaning his room_ if he really had nothing better to do, but tonight was different and he couldn’t focus on anything.

Slowly but surely, the short arm of the clock had reached nine and Nagisa’s eyes glittered mischievously. Already expecting the familiar _ding!_ from his phone, he fished the device out of his pocket and flipped it open to find a text from Rei that said he was on his way home.

“ _Good news: I’ll be home early! I’ll be there in twenty minutes.  
_

_\- Rei.”_

Nagisa couldn’t help but beam at the simple message and quickly typed,

“ _See you in a few~! ♥ _”_ _

A few minutes later he received a smiley in response and happily bounced over to the couch. He reached for his books, grabbed his notes, a few pencils and markers and laid everything out on the table like he usually would. Lastly, he would grab one of the books, flip over to his stomach and have a marker ready in case his eyes fell on something important.

Butterflies fluttered in his stomach excitedly as if he was going on a first date, but Nagisa also told himself that there was a chance that Rei would simply shake him awake and lecture him about falling asleep on the couch. It didn’t matter, because it would probably be pretty amusing, either way.

It was only a few minutes later when Nagisa heard the front door open and close. He quickly stopped swinging his legs, laid his head on his arm, let the other arm dangle uselessly, closed his eyes and lastly, tried to even out his breathing.

Rei’s quiet and reserved footsteps were getting closer and louder, making his heart beat faster. His bangs were annoyingly close to his eyes, but he kept still no matter how much he wanted to move. Luckily, the familiar scent of his favorite cologne waved over him and he could only guess that Rei was very close right now. The footsteps stopped and Nagisa continued to breathe softly through his mouth, feigning innocence. 

_Oh no._ It was _incredibly_ hard not to flinch when he suddenly felt a hand on his lower back, familiar fingertips rubbing small circles there.

“Again, Nagisa-kun?” Rei whispered, a smile evident in his voice.

His hand left and touched his forehead this time, gently brushing the bangs out of his eyes and (Nagisa seriously thought he would jump out of his skin) pressed a quick kiss above his eyebrow. A lovely prickling warmth came to life in his stomach and Nagisa prayed that his cheeks wouldn’t go bright red because if Rei saw through him now, he’d never find out what happened.

Fortunately, Rei’s warmth and fragrance left for a minute and Nagisa was about to peek through his eyelashes when he heard him clear the table. It wasn’t an unusual sound, especially since he had been living with Rei for over a year now, but now he was tidying up _after him._ Filing his notes, closing the books, taking the pen that was still in his hand (to make it look more realistic), unzipping his bag and, Nagisa was absolutely dumbfounded at this point, putting everything back in there, like Rei would do himself every night before class.

Nagisa wanted to say something so bad because this was so not okay. Rei was not supposed to be _this_ sweet to him, even though they definitely were in a healthy relationship and cared for each other deeply, this was not how it was supposed to go. Rei was supposed to shake him awake, drag him to their bathroom and force him to go through their usual night routine. 

“Now, let’s get you to bed.”

Well. Nagisa had _sort of_ expected this, but then again… no. Because the next thing Rei did, really threw him off.

He was carefully nudged forward so he was lying on his side and then felt one of Rei’s hands slipping behind his shoulder and another one behind his knees. When he was easily lifted into Rei’s arms, his cheek ended up against his chest and he fought the extremely strong desire to nuzzle his exposed collarbone. It was getting harder and harder, especially when Rei leaned down to brush their noses together for a few seconds before he started walking, something Nagisa absolutely _loved_ to do, and Rei never wanted to because he said it was embarrassing. He made a mental note that Rei apparently didn’t mind at all and that he’d never have another excuse to not do it. 

_God,_ this was flippin’ _hard._ To be _this_ close to Rei and not be able to say or do _anything.  
_

On their way to the bedroom, Nagisa continuously felt Rei’s soft breaths against his cheek and casually bit his lip to stop himself from giggling.

Rei turned on the lights of their bedroom with his elbow and carefully laid Nagisa down on his side of the bed, but not before giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. Just when he thought this torture was finally over, he felt Rei’s warm lips on his for a few seconds and the whispered words, “Goodnight, Nagisa-kun,” afterwards.

He couldn’t do it anymore. Nagisa cracked and opened his eyes, reaching for Rei’s hand before he could pull away.

A very entertaining shriek filled the air as Rei realized Nagisa was awake. “N-N-Nagisa-kun! You’re—” 

“Rei-chan…!” 

“…”

“…”

“I’m sorry!” Both of them called out at the same time and Rei turned around, probably trying to hide his red face while Nagisa sat on his knees and squeezed the blankets awkwardly.

“I had no idea,” he uttered and looked up with wry smile. “I never imagined you as the type to do this sort of thing.”

“Well,” Rei cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks still somewhat red. “I know falling asleep on the couch is not pleasant at all so the only solution would be to carry you and hope you don’t wake up. And I _know_ I should have asked permission first, but when I saw all those books and notes the first time, I put two and two together and couldn’t bring myself to wake you. You’ve been working so hard lately, so I thought I’d help you out and try to make things easier. Besides, you’re not heavy, in fact, you’re very light and it’s really not a problem at all, but I completely understand if you never want me to do it again and—”

Nagisa stopped him by poking his nose and Rei yelped in surprise. “You’re babbling.”

“S-sorry, I’ll just go and bury myself somewhere, or something.”

“No, don’t!” Nagisa pushed himself up and put his hands on Rei’s shoulders. “You surprised me, that’s all!” 

They stared at each for a moment and after a while, Rei’s eyes softened and he lightly ran the back of his index finger over Nagisa’s cheek. “You’re not mad?”

“Of course not, dummy,” Nagisa laughed, leaning into his touch. “I’m very glad you’re so thoughtful. And it was pretty fun, too.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Hm.” Amusement slipped into Rei’s voice and his hands slipped down to Nagisa’s hips, stroking them with his thumbs. “So, you don’t mind?”

“Not one bit. Just warn me beforehand ‘cause otherwise I’ll— Wow!”

Before he could even blink, Rei had literally swept him off his feet and was now holding him, quite satisfied. “That’s for pretending to be asleep and scaring me.” 

“Well, I had to find out how I magically ended up in bed after falling asleep downstairs, didn’t I?”

Nagisa playfully stuck out his tongue but buried his face in Rei’s neck nonetheless, laughing happily when Rei sat down on the bed, still cradling and hugging him. He swung his legs back and forth freely while he wrapped his arms around Rei’s neck to pull him closer, pressing their cheeks together.

“Thanks for taking care of me,” Nagisa whispered in his ear before he laid his head on his shoulder and closed his eyes, ready to sleep in earnest.

“Just taking responsibility,” was the soft reply before he finally drifted off with a small sigh.

**Author's Note:**

> Because Rei carrying Nagisa to bed like that is very important. Seriously, these two will be the death of me nggghh
> 
> Writing these two is so interesting because their relationship seems so natural and realistic to me, which also makes it somewhat hard sometimes, but still fun uwu 
> 
> Please don't forget to leave kudos/comments on your way out~! ♡♡♡


End file.
